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You have read about the different lottery games and the way to play them. You have also found several methods of picking lucky numbers. Now it’s time for you to fine-tune your game using this section full of insider tips and techniques. Determine what to do and what to prevent. Learn to setup a lottery-playing budget. Discover various ways to get in touch with your state’s lottery. Finally (may the odds be with you), determine what to do if you win!
If possible, always buy your own lottery tickets. Do not ask neighbors or friends to pick them up for you. Similarly, don’t pick up tickets for others. Do not loan or borrow money for tickets, and do not go halfsies, either. Why? Is not this a trifling matter — the same as picking up a loaf of bread for someone at the store? Not quite. In the event the ticket does not win or if perhaps the prize is small, then there is usually no problem. But in the event the ticket turns out to be a jackpot winner, you can have a sticky situation on your hands. At the minimum, it may be embarrassing. This little favor for a neighbor now involves millions of dollars.
For example, maybe your neighbor said she would pay you the dollar for the ticket later. Fine, you think. What is a dollar? You give her the ticket, and she is now a millionaire. Be honest. Will you perhaps feel you are entitled to a division of the windfall? After all, you did buy the ticket with your own money. OK, it wasn’t technically your money. It was money you loaned your neighbor. However, you did go and purchase the ticket, so you might feel you’re eligible to some of the winnings.
What in the event the situation were reversed, as well as your neighbor had purchased the ticket for you? Maybe you jokingly promised to split the money with her if you won. Are you aware that she may very well be able take you to court, claiming the two of you made a verbal agreement? No matter what people’s good intentions are ahead of the ticket is purchased, not everybody is as honorable as Raul Zavaleta, one of the real life winners featured in this book. After the winning numbers are announced, not everybody will, without hesitation, keep his or her promise to split $40 million.
Are you beginning to determine the possible repercussions inside this? Why not avoid broken friendships, hurt feelings, and also lawsuits? Buy your own tickets, period. It is an entirely different situation when you give a ticket to someone as a present, or vice versa — a gift is a present.
Plenty of people discard their losing scratch-off, Pick 3, and Lotto tickets. After all, what possible use could you have for all those scraps of paper? Think again. If you regularly spend a substantial sum of money on the lottery, those old tickets may very well be worth cash to you.
The IRS says you cannot offset losses against winnings and report the main difference. For example, if Mary spends $1,600 each year on tickets and wins only $600, she must report the $600 even though her losses amounted to $1,000. In accordance with the tax rules, if you have gambling losses, you may claim them being an itemized deduction, but you can’t deduct more than the winnings reported. So if Mary itemizes her deductions, she can take only $600 as an itemized loss on schedule A.
Having said that, if Jim spends $600 and wins $1,600, he too must report the $1,600. But if he itemizes, he can claim the whole $600 as a loss on schedule A since he is allowed to report any losses up to $1,600. Ironically, this law helps winners more than it helps losers. So think positively. Think like a winner, and save those old tickets.
In the event you live in one of the states that doesn’t have a lottery, you may be tempted to enter lotteries in other states. That’s fine, provided you go to the place and purchase the ticket face-to-face. There are actually several federal and state laws with regards to the lotteries. One will be the United States of America Postal Service regulation that forbids the mailing of unplayed lottery tickets across state lines.
Some states’ laws prohibit the sale of tickets by smart phone, mail, fax, as well as over the web. If your state has a lottery, it makes little sense to enter either out-of-state or foreign lotteries. Chances are you can find better odds right within your own backyard, without the extra fee or the risk. Can you imagine winning several million dollars only to discover that you haven’t actually won it after all? It appears that any time lots of money is involved, you’ll find those who try and get a piece of the action — illegally.
You definitely will frequently see advertisements online gambling agency as well as in magazines and newspapers for books, software, and other media to help you in your goal to win the Lotto. Some of these are reputable businesses and can also offer you professionally designed wheeling systems as well as other strategies which could help better your chances. But if one of these companies claims their product is guaranteed to make you the next Lotto millionaire, ask yourself one very obvious question: If they’ve managed to solve the riddle of the best way to win a jackpot, what makes them running an ad?
